Skipping Hearts
by Cinaminsweet
Summary: Veronica and Wallace discuss his relationship boneheadedness. Spoilers for 2.17 Plan B.


Wallace turned and walked away from Jackie, hearing the "Leave, Wallace" she had said, echoing in his head. He felt awful. Not only had he just hurt one of the sweetest girls at Neptune, but Jackie didn't even seem to be all that anxious to get back together with him. He thought she would've been happy when he'd told her he'd broken up with Jane and still had feelings for Jackie.

As he walked away, he caught a glimpse of familiar blonde hair. He looked over at his regular lunch table and saw Veronica looking at him. She smirked at him, and with a tilt of her head and a "come here" motion with her index finger, she beckoned him over. He could tell she had just witnessed his break up with Jane and subsequent humiliation from Jackie. He paused for a moment before heading over to the table. He didn't really want to have some long, deep, soul-searching conversation with her, but he knew she'd start asking questions. But he knew just what to do to derail that train.

"What's up?" he asked, sitting down across from her.

"I'm just sitting here watching the 'all-hands Nubian prince' in action. What exactly were you doing?"

He rolled his eyes. "I broke up with Jane," he told her.

"About time," she replied, and popped a French fry from her tray in her mouth.

"What do you mean? I thought you liked Jane."

"I do. She's a sweet girl. But you don't even have to be a PI to tell that you're just not that into her. I could see that the other day we ate lunch together."

He nodded. "Yeah, I like her and all, but…"

"You still have feelings for Jackie."

"Right."

"And she just blew you off?"

"Right."

"I don't blame her," she said, reaching across the table and lightly tapping him upside the head. "What is wrong with you? You break up with Jane, after leading the poor girl on, then two seconds later you go skipping over to Jackie, thinking she's just supposed to fall into your arms, in front of everyone?"

Wallace paused. He did have to admit, that he wasn't coming across too well in Veronica's version of things.

"I just wanted to talk to her," he mumbled.

"Yeah, right," she replied, munching on another fry.

He decided it was time to put a stop to this train of conversation.

"Speaking of falling into people's arms, what was up with you and Logan last night at the dance? I saw y'all all hugged up on the dance floor."

This time it was Veronica who paused, mid-chew. Swallowing, she said "We were not hugged up. It was just one little dance."

"Yeah, right," he said, mimicking her tone earlier. "Sure didn't look that way to me or half the student body. And I guess you would know a lot about skipping from one person to the next, seeing as how last summer you went from Logan to Duncan in one hop, skip, and a jump."

He saw a brief moment of hurt cross her face and he knew he'd probably derailed the train a little too much, especially with bringing up Duncan.

"Look," he said. "Forget I said anything."

She shook her head. "I was just trying to help, you know."

And he did know. He knew she wouldn't even be wasting her time having this conversation with him if she didn't care or want to help.

"So, help me," he said. "What do I need to do to get Jackie back?"

She smiled slightly as she popped open her can of soda. "Give her some time, some space. You know she's right, you can't just go right from 'Sweet-everybody-loves-Jane' to Jackie, or that will just make Jackie look bad. Just take your time. When she's ready, she'll let you know."

He grinned and snitched one of her fries. "How do you know so much about this stuff?"

"Hello, I'm a girl, and a girl who's been in Jackie's position. Although in my case, Duncan at least waited more than two seconds before trying to get back with me," she added.

"Ha ha," he replied, then glanced back over to where Jackie was sitting, listlessly poking at her salad. "You really think she'll want to get together again?"

Veronica smiled at him, noting his sad puppy dog eyes. She'd never seen him this way over a girl and she thought it was kind of cute. "Definitely," she said. "I mean, she'd be crazy if she didn't want to be with a guy like you. Trust me, she'll come to her senses."


End file.
